Reliant donated one of their
new Scimitar GTE bodyshells to the John Woolfe Racing Team and gained
good publicity from the venture.

John Woolfe was tragically killed
while racing a Porsche 917 at Le-mans in June 1969. John's
half of the partnership was passed on to Arnold Burton who agreed that Whistler
could continue to be campaigned for the remainder of the season.

Dennis Priddle was recruited to drive the car and in his hands it was
unbeatable when running 10.4 second runs at 140mph. Consequently the
Stratton stable won the Super Eliminator Trophy at Santa Pod for the
third year in a row. At the presentation that followed, there was
a minute's silence in memory of John Woolfe.

Above:
"Whistler" Scimitar on front Cover of Drag Racing and Hot Rod
from June 1969.

Above:The John Woolfe racing team gained a sponsorship
deal with Mattel's Hot Wheels and
the JWR "Whistler" Scimitar became know as the "Sizzler" and was now being driven by Ed
Shaver and Dennis Priddle.

Ed
Shaver purchased the "Whistler" scimitar and with help from Pat Cuss
they modified the bodywork to incorporate the new chassis with a 101"
wheelbase:

Above:Featured in Custom Car in May 1973
was Ed Shaver's "Ecstacy" Scimitar GTE drag car. The
power plant was a Chrysler 392ci. The car was going to be on a
high-nitro diet and was aiming for sub-seven second runs and was
awaiting sponsorship.

The
Hillbillies team Roland Pratt, Mike Derry and Gerald Haines bought the
"Ecstacy" car from Ed Shaver. Pass Cuss set about modifying
the bodywork making it even longer and lower and gained sponsorship from
Revell:

Above:Chiltern Valley used the ex Hillbillies bodyshell (Does anyone have
anymore info on this car?)

Special
Thanks to: Alan Currans fromwww.theaccelerationarchive.co.ukfor letting me use the photographs from his website, and
especially to the original photographers/publishers: Dennis
Priddle, David Riswick, Roland Pratt, David Forward, Ake Remp, Cambridge News Photos, Hot Car,
Drag Racing and Hot Rod Magazine. Thanks also to "TimeTravel"
from the UK Drag Racing Nostalgia Forum http://www.ukdrn.co.uk/forum